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Casualty Info
Home Town Arlington, WA
Last Address Arlington, WA
Casualty Date Aug 05, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Court 3 (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
As a the Executive Officer of VB-13, stationed on board USS Franklin (CV-13), LCDR Holmstrom's SB2C-3 Helldiver was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during the Battle of Chichi Jima on August 6,1944. His remains were not recovered and he was later declared dead.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 081095
Exuctive Officer of VB-13 from 11/1943 until his death.
Distinguished Flying Cross
DIST FLY CROSS
Awarded for actions during World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 337 (April 1945)
Citation: Lieutenant Commander Carl B. A. Holmstrom (NSN: 0-81095), United States Navy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (Posthumously) for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as pilot of a carrier-based Scout Bomber in the Bonin Islands on 5 August 1944.
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)/Battle of Philippine Sea
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and pitted elements of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet against ships and aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons.
The aerial part of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. During a debriefing after the first two air battles a pilot from USS Lexington remarked "Why, hell, it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home!" The outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, technology (including the top-secret anti-aircraft proximity fuze), and ship and aircraft design. Although at the time the battle appeared to be a missed opportunity to destroy the Japanese fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost the bulk of its carrier air strength and would never recover. During the course of the battle, American submarines torpedoed and sank two of the largest Japanese fleet carriers taking part in the battle.
This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history.
